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Tuesday, 12 January 2010

Mike Danton to join Saint Mary's Huskies?

While this is not directly St. Thomas Tommies news, it would certainly have to be filed under general interest.

Former NHL'er Mike Danton has supposedly committed to play for the Saint Mary's Huskies and could suit up for the team in the very near future Ie. this weekend.

This is a very controversial situation. Based on the person, doesn't everyone deserve a second chance? Perhaps, but maybe Mr. Danton/Jefferson has already burnt too many bridges already? Maybe CIS hockey is the wrong sort of league for him to start playing in again?

How about Saint Mary's. It should improve their team but at what cost? Good players get better playing with and against other good players, is Danton's skill level still at NHL standards after half a decade in prison? How do the SMU players and their families react to this? It brings a lot of media coverage for the AUS but maybe for the wrong reasons? Maybe for good reasons as the league is considered good calibre?

15 comments:

Good for Mike Denton ,SMU and the League he should be allowed to resume his life and make something positive happen in his life,just sorry that we didn't get him at STU but I wish him all the best,he played with Shaun Cation in Barrie.

i think he would be a great addition. Everyone deserves a second chance. He is still messed in the head I feel with dealing with Dave Frost from watching the 5th Estate programs and Danton's own interview on sportsnet. But his style will suit the AUS just fine. He should be able to fill the rinks as well because hes Mike Danton.

~Tommies Video Guy~

PS. Hoping Dave Frost does not grace us with his prescense at the LBR.

This can only be good for the CIS, and the AUS in particular. Of course, the real question is how? The exposure of having a former NHL player who's fresh from prison will give the AUS and the CIS new fans if they go to the game to see Mike Danton. Not to mention the press this will bring.

It can only help a league and university hockey that doesn't get the respect it deserves.

On another note:

What songs will grace the LBR when he hits the ice or takes a penalty?

Dave Ritchie's comments about Mike Danton are really all about how this might impact UNB's ability to emerge from the AUS,he can't see anything straight through those "red" color glasses.I have forgotten the kids name but UNB had an over 30 year old married gent with a couple of children and I heard no such comments about he being too long in the tooth.Get with the program Ritchie,Danton deserves his chance at rehabbing and if he can make the team at SMU he should play,Congratulations to the entire Atheletic proram at SMU for giving this man a second chance,while I'm at it,Damian Cox's comments are no less pertanant but anybody who listens to him realizes that.

I have been reading with interest all the different articles. The largest problem with MOST of the stories are the writers. They have no clue about CIS Hockey.

I think they honestly believe that it is a bunch of graduated high school hockey players that are 17 or 18 years of age.

Some realize there are major junior players but think they are of limited ability. It just goes to show how poorly the CIS markets itself.

I like to think that our players are the smart ones, education first, pro hockey second. A great many of our players could play pro and eventually do. I feel bad for the player that is lead down the garden path of pro hockey (ECHL or CHL) over university only to find out too late that the CIS offered him a life after hockey (whenever that shall be) with hockey included in the present.

My point is that a CIS representative (these comments are only going to reach a limited audience here)should actually sit down with these national reporters and explain who and what our hockey league is all about instead of letting people getting more and more misinformed.

My 2 cents and for the record good for SMU for their savvy and guts to take a chance. Good luck Mike Danton.

Wow. I suppose it stands to reason - STU being a liberal arts institution - that so many bleeding hearts are coming out of the woodwork to give Danton/Jefferson his supposedly deserved second chance.

I wonder how lauded this move would be if it were made by UNB? It's lazy to throw a jab at David Ritchie for UNB bias. The point is still a valid one - a 29 year old Mike Danterson is not what a student athlete is meant to be. Also lazy to invoke the ever popular red-headed stepchild bunker mentality of "those national reporters just don't understand". And the "education first, pro hockey later" mantra... while true, let's peel off the layer of sanctimony to reveal the motivation behind it - "don't go pro, come play for my team"

Back to Mr. Danterson... does he deserve the opportunity to get an education? Sure, no different than anyone else who fulfills the academic requirements and ponies up the cash to enroll. Does he deserve to play hockey? Absolutely not. Is SMU well within their rights to sign him up? Well, sure they are. But again, let's peel away the delusions of magnanimity to reveal their true intentions - to try to make themselves a better hockey team and put a few butts in the echo-inducing Halifax Forum in the process.

Is Danterson a changed man? Nothing I've seen would indicate as much. The much ballyhooed Kypreos interview was just more of the same "poor me, it's not my fault" nonsense. And long before Danterson tried to have another human being murdered (as an aside, wondering how cut out he is for university considering the brilliance of that plot) he was a bad teammate and/or disruptive force in New Jersey, Albany and Barrie. And that's the player that will likely return to Saint Mary's. As soon as Danterson's icetime or some other situation isn't what he thinks it should be, expect the problems to begin. Once the novelty reveals itself as the underwhelming gate attraction it will surely be, Saint Mary's will soon be having second thoughts.

I am no more sanctimonious than a young junior aged player's agent or an ECHL scout or coach that promises the world and delivers nothing more than a spot to play hockey until the team says take a hike.

At least playing for "my team" offers something. An education and a chance to play pro hockey after you are done your education.

I respect your opinion, I don't share it. I know of a goaltender at UNB who was caught for DUI and drinking underage. Should he be given a chance to turn his life around? Some consider DUI as attempted murder, it’s a crime. I think the chance was given and rightfully so.

Maybe you're right but I hope for the sake of another human being that you are wrong and until he does prove me wrong, I will continue to wish him well.

It's a crap shoot - If the guy turns himself around, contributes to the team and proves himself on (and off) the ice, it will have been a good idea. If he doesn't, I guess people will be saying "Hindsight is a wonderful thing".

surprised STU FAN hasnt been calling out Eagles for not thinking about picking up Danton for STU. Probably would say "why hasnt Eagles been looking through the prison system for talent....another reason why the other teams are ahead of the curve. I think he shouldnt be AD and coach if he couldnt pick up Danton"

Mike will be the top forward in the league if he can return to 75% of his NHL days.I'm assume Mike Sanderson who said "he'd be a top 6 forward" hasn't seen him play much. He does deserve a second chance....poor guy had a rough childhood career. Look at Theo Fleury....he could have went either way too.

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